Lost in digital Transformation

Article by Marcel Vandieken | 2017 April 13

01

The Checklist

Digital is en vogue. Almost every company in Germany has already launched digital initiatives that are aimed at preparing for the digital future. And since this is new territory for many companies, they are agile – as would be expected – having started many test and learning projects simultaneously. Today, however, it seems as if this pragmatic approach has taken on a life of its own: many German companies find themselves “Lost in Transformation”.

But how can companies know whether they have lost their way in this process? Here are four symptoms:

Copy & paste:

The pressure to act is growing but the company still has no plan. That leads it to base its digital initiatives on those of the competition and to adopt them without verifying their relevance to their own business model.

Divided teams:

There are deep divisions within teams, digital natives and digital immigrants work against each other costing a lot of time and resources and nipping innovative ideas in the bud.

Unclear guidelines:

We need to go digital! But the how, when and why are not clearly defined. Without guidelines to show the way to the objective, the digital transformation ends up rapidly going nowhere.

1001 silos:

New ideas are often addressed by a variety of people but there is no agreement between departments. What sometimes looks like the right thing to do may risk inefficiency and duplication of effort.

Digital transformation must not become an end in itself. Only through an overarching strategy and corresponding roadmap can companies ensure that their transformations are aligned with their corporate goals.

2. Think: Develop a clear direction

a. Digital target: Give your company a vision of its digital target
→ Key question: How should we position ourselves to be successful in the future?
→ Methodology: Interdisciplinary workshops to formulate key questions, guiding principles and a (digital) mission and vision

b. Digital agenda: Concentrate on your central fields of activity
→ Key question: Which fields of activity do we need to address in order to achieve our objective?
→ Methodology: Brainstorm long list measures in interdisciplinary workshops, structure topics, outline the envisaged initiatives, prioritise concrete actions to be taken

c. Digital roadmap: Convert your agenda into an agreed and binding roadmap
→ Key question: Which topics should we address; when, how and with whom?
→ Methodology: Estimate effort required, plan projects and resources, develop business case and obtain approval.

c. Review: Continually challenge the chosen path
→ Key question: Are my strategy and current initiatives still in line with the objectives?
→ Methodology: Update the “Track” and “Think” phases on an iterative basis, review project results, gain feedback from the teams.

Marcel Vandieken has been building the Consulting part of the business for UDG United Digital Group as Managing Partner, in addition he sits on our UDG board and is responsible for strategic development. The former business administration graduate has more than seven years of experience in consulting Dax 30 companies and medium-sized businesses. His area of expertise are building strategies for digital transformation focusing on customer centric alignment for marketing, sales and services channels as well as new business development.

This website uses cookies for analysis purposes. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. For information on cookies and how you can disable them visit our privacy policy.